Black Lives Matter

June 1, 2020

Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the power of group meditation on peace and change in the world.  Jon Kabat-Zinn, a renowned mindfulness teacher says, "Being whole and simultaneously part of a larger whole, we can change the world simply by changing ourselves.  If I become a center of love and kindness in this moment, then in a perhaps small but hardly insignificant way, the world now has a nucleus of love and kindness it lacked the moment before."  (Click here for an article in Psychology Today that addresses this very concept).

Each of us probably has a different idea of what that change means.  

For some it might mean bringing justice to our black brothers and sisters. 

For some it might mean calming the anger that has ensnared so many.  

For some it might mean calming your own inner anger.  

For some it might mean visualizing systemic changes happening in our justice system.  

For some it might mean seeing a world where we truly are equal no matter the color of our skin, the religion of our choosing, the choice of a partner or our political orientation.

And...for some it is all of the above.

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Today’s Suggested Practice

I truly believe that how we feel on the inside affects what is happening on the outside.  Whether you can join this gathering today or not, there IS something we each of us can do with these helpless, confusing, fearful and very uncomfortable feelings.  

Take a few minutes to sit quietly and connect in with your breath.

Begin to allow the feelings and mental images that represent these challenging feelings to arise in you.  Acknowledge them and feel them.

Now move those to the side and begin to visualize the change you want to see in the world.  Bring as much color and detail into this visualization as you can.  Sit and breathe with this image.

Finally, allow yourself to FEEL in your body this visualization come true.  

Sit with these feelings and this visualization for as long as you want.  When you are done, notice the difference between how you felt at the beginning of this exercise vs. the end.  

I have to assume the positive visualization felt much better in the body than the negative?  I want to emphasize that this is not to say we don’t acknowledge and feel the negative; it’s about choosing how long to stay there and to what end.  (Attached is an article I wrote in March that addresses this).

May we visualize our way, feel our way and move through action from a place of inner peace to create an outer world of peace.